Last year facial detection -- which optimizes focus and exposure for human faces instead of other elements in a picture -- became almost a standard feature on digital cameras.
This year photography moves up to facial recognition: the camera detects a distinct individual's face, and prioritizes exposure for that person as opposed to others in the scene.
Panasonic says that when a familiar face is recorded several times, its new cameras will prompt you to register the face. Once registered, if the face appears in the frame again, the camera will display the name specified for that person and prioritize focus and exposure so that the registered face "is bright and sharply focused."
In playback, you can display only photos that contain a specific registered face, making it easier to organize and view photos, the company says.
Panasonic also debuted the new AVCHD Lite HD video format, a subset of AVCHD focused on 720p resolution. Developed by Panasonic and Sony, it allows almost double the recording time in HD quality as compared with the Motion JPEG format, the companies claim.
Panasonic got the jump on the competition by announcing in late January its new line of Lumix compact cameras shipping in April.
Among the models:
The DMC-TS1 is shockproof from 5-foot falls, and waterproof to a 10-foot depth.
[At a recent press briefing in which journalists got to try the camera, most of us took HD video as we lowered the camera into a pool, or let it be submerged under an oncoming ocean wave. Cool stuff.]
The TS1 starts up in 1.3 seconds, and the shutter release time lag is approximately 0.005 seconds, the company claims.
The camera has a 12MP sensor, a 28mm wide-angle lens with a 4.6x optical zoom, and a 2.7-inch LCD for $399.
The ZS3 is a 10MP camera with a 25mm wide-angle lens that has a 12x zoom. Despite the optical range, the camera is smaller and lighter than its predecessors, Panasonic says.
It has a 3-inch LCD, and a 10 shots-per-second burst mode. It's $399.
The FX580 has a 3-inch touchscreen and a 25mm wide lens with F2.8 brightness and a 5x optical zoom. It has a 12MP sensor and captures HD video, for $399.
The 12MP FS25 has a 5x optical zoom that starts at 29mm, and a 3-inch LCD, for $249.
The 12MP FX48 has a 2.5-inch LCD, but its 5x optical zoom starts at a wider 25mm, and it captures HD video. It's $349.
January 30, 2009
